Entrusted with the task to create a resource pool of 500 million skilled workers by 2022, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, minister of state (independent charge) for skill development and entrepreneurship, said that while everyone is talking about ‘make in India’, it will not be possible unless there are ‘makers in India’.

“We are taking a lot of initiatives and also partnering with the industry. The prime minister has committed Rs 32,000 crore for the ministry, but it cannot be utilised well because I do not have the mechanism for that. We want the industry to come forward as partners.”

Rudy was addressing the All India Management Associations’ 43rd National Management Conclave in Delhi on Wednesday. Rudy said his job is to invest in human beings and results cannot be achieved in a year or two. “We are addressing the deficiencies and putting in our best. It would take decades to see the results.”

At present, the country has just 2 percent skilled workforce compared to 68 percent in the UK, 74 percent in Germany, 80 percent in Japan, and 96 percent in South Korea. Earlier, every government department, through various schemes, were spending around Rs 6,000 crore. Rudy’s ministry has been given the role to standardise and rationalise that work.

The minister said that this department is the actual start up in the government. And in the last 18 months it has been able to define the skills and is also creating an ecosystem for the same, which was the biggest challenge.

The minister also said that plans are under way to include skills in the schooling system. “Twelve years of school education is very important but it may not make you employable. But 10-15 weeks of training can make you employable. Somehow building of the human resource was lost in the education. We always had the aspiration to become educated. And skills never found space in the system,” he added.

The minister also said that the institutional set up for skills had been through engineering colleges or ITIs. But there has been no talk of other skills apart from electrician or fitters in these institutions. The minister added that many policy decisions have been taken to define the ecosystem and to bring in changes in this sector.

“Earlier those who entered ITIs after class 8 or 10, were not qualified for further studies. But today we have taken a policy decision by allowing these 1.8 million children to take up further studies. There are 17 lakh engineering seats in the country. Out of which 8.5 lakh seats are lying vacant. And those who complete their engineering course are not being employed, because the classroom does not give you all the training. The actual training takes place in the industry. That is why the industries have to reinvest in these children. These challenges are being addressed today,” he said.

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